The country’s most popular new car, the Ford Focus, has held on to its coveted ‘Used Car of the Year’ title in the Auto Express Glass’s Guide Used Car Honours 2008. The judges cited its competitive pricing, entertaining drive and the broad availability of second-hand models as key factors in helping it to secure its crown. It is the first time in the 11-year history of the awards that the top prize has been retained.

Having won its own ‘compact family car’ class, the second-generation Focus was eligible to be considered for the overall title, along with all other class winners, including its big brother and ‘family car’ champion the Ford Mondeo. The judges were unanimous in their decision to award the top accolade to the Focus.

Jeff Paterson, Chief Car Editor at EurotaxGlass’s and a key member of the judging panel for the awards, said, “The Ford Focus has again proved itself to be not only a top seller as a new car but also a great second-hand buy. Its ubiquity on our roads does nothing to dampen its desirability, and it means that used car buyers have a wide range of examples to choose from. Good residual values, decent equipment levels and a widely-acknowledged ability to entertain drivers all make the Focus a sound purchase and a worthy two-time winner of this award.”

Like Ford, BMW also took home a hat-trick of trophies, with victories for its 3-Series in the ‘compact executive’ and ‘coupé’ categories and the 5-Series in the ‘executive’ class.

The judging panel for the Honours comprised representatives of the Auto Express editorial team and a number of independent motor industry experts. Using valuation data and information on ownership costs provided by Glass’s Guide publisher EurotaxGlass’s, the panel assessed every car which had been on sale since January 2007 against a broad range of criteria to identify the best model available to used car buyers in every vehicle segment.

The winners by category are as follows (all awards are for current-generation models, except where stated):

• Small car - Peugeot 107
• Supermini - Renault Clio
• Compact family car - Ford Focus
• Family car - Ford Mondeo (previous generation model)
• Compact executive car - BMW 3-Series
• Executive car - BMW 5-Series
• Large executive car - Mercedes-Benz CLS
• Estate car - Skoda Octavia
• Roadster - Mazda MX-5
• Cabriolet - Audi A4 Cabriolet
• Coupé - BMW 3-Series
• Compact SUV - Toyota RAV4
• Premium SUV - Land Rover Discovery 3
• Compact MPV - Vauxhall Zafira
• Sporting car - Porsche 911
• Hot hatch - Volkswagen Golf GTI
• Used Car of the Year - Ford Focus
• Used Car Scheme of the Year - Hyundai